1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to navigation information updating systems and navigation information distributing apparatuses, and particularly to a navigation information updating system and a navigation information distributing apparatus for frequently updating navigation information for navigation process that assists in moving a mobile unit such as vehicles, etc.
2. Description of Related Art
Navigation systems have become increasingly popular lately with their useful process of navigating mobile units such as vehicles, and to execute such navigation process, these systems use navigation information including information about road maps, intersections, landmarks, routing to destinations, etc.
The information about road maps, intersections, etc. included in the navigation information needs to be updated frequently (e.g., yearly) as new roads are constructed or new buildings are built.
However, to update the navigation information, users of the prior art navigation systems have no alternative but to replace the recording medium (on which the current navigation information is recorded) incorporated into those systems with a recording medium on which newly purchased updated navigation information is recorded, or to acquire updating navigation information, for example, via the Internet to replace the current navigation information using the acquired updating information.